


Dinner for 6 (ish)

by fivesmargarita



Series: Hargreeves Domesticity [2]
Category: The Umbrella Academy (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Everyone Lives/Nobody Dies, Domestic, Family Dinners
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-12
Updated: 2021-01-12
Packaged: 2021-03-16 09:48:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28704684
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fivesmargarita/pseuds/fivesmargarita
Summary: After returning home from the 1960s, and after grocery shopping, the Hargreeves have a family dinner.
Series: Hargreeves Domesticity [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2104167
Comments: 1
Kudos: 41





	Dinner for 6 (ish)

**Author's Note:**

> Loosely connected to my other fic, "The Hargreeves Go Grocery Shopping." Not required reading though.
> 
> We're still ignoring a few parts of canon. Here are my AU rules:  
> 1\. Ben is still there.  
> 2\. Sparrow Academy doesn't exist.  
> 3\. Reginald isn't at the Academy. Idk where he went. But he's not here.

“Welcome home,” Allison sang sarcastically as she pushed open the heavy doors to the Umbrella Academy. Her siblings grunted as they lugged in plastic bags, holding the door open with their elbows.

It almost seemed haunted, the Academy. Every square inch of their childhood home was ingrained with memories, every crack in the tiles had been memorized by heart. The dim ceiling lights could barely illuminate the corners of the main hall. As Vanya shuffled in, letting the door close behind her, the place seemed even more eerie, closed off from the streetlight and the bustling of humanity outside. The faint scent of lemon Pledge reminded the Hargreeves of Grace, cleaning up in the mornings before training. While it smelled like home, it seemed foreign to return to the Umbrella Academy with no person, robot, or chimpanzee to greet them. 

Silently shuffling through the main hall, the siblings made their way to the downstairs kitchen. Diego hit the lightswitch with his elbow as the rest of his siblings plopped the grocery bags carefully on the table. The light over the table gently flickered on, illuminating the small kitchen in a warm glow. 

“Alright, who’s cooking what?” Allison asked, unpacking groceries and placing them on the table.

“I can make steak,” Five declared, blipping over to the spice cabinet.

“I got some stuff to make pasta if that sounds good,” Vanya leaned on the back of the chair, awaiting feedback from her siblings. 

“Sounds great, I can do some side dishes!” Allison sounded delighted, ideas already swirling in her head for what to make. “Did anyone else get anything?” 

“Uh, I bought an artichoke.” Diego muttered.

“Ooh, we could do like a spinach and artichoke dip as an appetizer. Do you know how to make that?” Allison was still unpacking groceries, handing them over to Luther for him to put away. 

“No.” Diego stared down at the floor. 

“Well, look up a recipe, I’m pretty sure we got everything we need. Five, what in the world do you want me to do with all of these limes?” Allison turned to face her brother, holding the heavy brown plastic bag out.

“Leave them on the table. I’ll make my margarita mix later.” Five spoke as he read the labels of each spice. Garlic, onion, pepper, paprika, salt, rosemary. Perfect. 

“Allison, I can make a dessert tray,” Luther offered, pulling a large ceramic dish off the top of the cabinet. 

“Sounds great. Hey Klaus? Do you want to go upstairs and raid the bar? Maybe make everyone a drink?” Allison prompted her brother, who was sitting on the table trying to unscrew the top of one of his pinot grigios. 

“Huh? Oh, yeah, sure.” With a momentous effort, he unscrewed the cap, took a swig, and hopped off the table, on the hunt for liquor. 

Klaus kicked off his shoes before he headed upstairs. He was always more of a barefoot guy anyway. Up the stairs, and back into the main hall, it felt cold and lonely. He took another swig of his white wine and headed towards the living room, humming to himself. He placed his bottle of pinot on the bar, and ducked behind it.

“Oh, come on, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Klaus muttered as he crouched behind the bar, looking for any type of alcohol. However, between his own alcoholism and Five’s penchant for margaritas, the stock behind the bar was decimated. Klaus was able to find a half bottle of tequila, a bottle of triple sec, an open bottle of scotch, and two bottles of gin. 

“What the hell are you gonna make with that, Klaus, the world's worst Long Island?” Ben commented, scaring his brother. Klaus hit his head on the bar, accidentally dropping a bottle of gin in the process. 

“Ow! What the hell Ben?” Klaus stood up, rubbing his head. “Now we only have one bottle of gin!”

“Please, you bought like five bottles of wine. Everyone can have those.” Ben crossed his arms and moved to the other side of the bar, taking a seat on a barstool. 

“No they can’t! Those are mine!” Klaus insisted, bringing up the four bottles of liquor. 

“And, who paid for them?” Ben asked, raising an eyebrow.

“Okay, fine, Allison did. But I’m gonna pay her back.” Klaus’s voice waned as he studied the label on the scotch, trying to avoid eye contact with Ben. 

“Are you really?” Five blipped into the living room. This startled Klaus, causing him to drop the scotch.

“Oh, come on! Stop doing that!” Klaus wined. “What are you doing up here anyway?”

“I wanted to make a drink.” Carrying his bag of limes, he walked over to the bar. “I didn’t realize I’d have to deal with a drunk idiot.” 

“Hey! I’m not drunk yet,” Klaus protested.

“Could’ve fooled me,” Five said dryly, walking behind the bar. “Jesus Christ, Klaus, how many bottles have you broken?”

“Uhhhh, two.” Klaus slumped onto the couch in the living room with his bottle of wine. Five kicked broken glass out of the way, selecting his half bottle of tequila from the top of the bar. 

Five poured the limes out of the bag. He grabbed a knife and started to methodically halve them. 

“Hey, Five?”

“What, Klaus?”

“Should you and your thirteen year old body be drinking? Like, won’t that royally screw up your development or whatever.” 

“I’ll be fine, but if you ask again I’ll rip off your nose.” Five violently chopped another lime in half. 

“Fine, jeesh, I was just wondering. I mean, I drank as a teen, and look how I turned out.” Klaus gestured to himself.

Five continued to chop limes, ignoring his brother. 

“Oh, shit, you know what? I think I left something upstairs.” Klaus hopped up off the couch, and started towards the stairwell. Five sighed and pulled out the blender from under the bar. Ben just facepalmed.

“Damn it. Every recipe I’m finding requires like six artichokes.” Diego furrowed his brow as he clicked out of a tab on his sister’s phone, scrolling furiously to the next link.

“Well, you can just make spinach dip with a little bit of artichoke.” Allison turned down the heat on her pot of mixed vegetables. 

“How close is it to being done?” Diego placed the phone on the table and walked over to the stove, where the artichoke was steaming. Allison took the lid off the pot before her brother could get there. 

“Uh, it should be good now. If you just want to use the artichoke heart for the dip, we could save the leaves and put them out with melted butter as an appetizer,” Allison suggested, putting the lid back on. 

As Diego gathered ingredients from the fridge, Luther was placing the final touches on his dessert tray. Vanya was quietly stirring her pasta, making sure none of it was sticking to the bottom. 

“So Vanya, what are you making?” Allison had started to wash off potatoes in the sink next to her sister.  
“Just some penne with alfredo sauce. Nothing special.”

“That sounds good!” Allison insisted. 

“What about you?”

“Well, I’ve got the mixed vegetables going right now, and I’m thinking of making mashed potatoes to go with Five’s steak.”

“Oh, yeah. That sounds nice,” Vanya said, turning off the burner, and carrying her pasta over to the colander she had in the sink, carefully pouring the pot out so as to not splash her sister. 

“Speaking of, where is Five?” Allison looked around the room, looking for him. 

“Huh. Maybe he ran upstairs.” Luther offered, equally confused. 

“What’s up, bitches!” Klaus stumbled down the stairs with a single joint behind his ear. He had christmas lights wrapped around his neck like a scarf, and he was carrying a record player. Five glanced up to see his mess of a brother.

“Where’s your wine bottle, Klaus?” Five asked, pouring margarita into a glass. 

“Oh, uh. I don’t know.” Klaus adjusted the christmas lights like a scarf. “Gee, three years sober really does something to your tolerance levels, huh.”

Ben placed his hands over his face. As much as Klaus annoyed him, he felt bad for his brother. Losing Dave was painful enough, but losing Dave twice? All the alcohol in the world couldn’t heal that wound.

“Or maybe it’s just because you drank an entire bottle of wine in under 30 minutes,” Five said curtly, placing a small umbrella in his drink. 

“Yeah, maybe that too. Oh, shit. I was supposed to make everyone a drink. Oh no,” He whined, like a two year old about to throw a tantrum. Five rolled his eyes. 

“Five, can I just serve your margarita?” Klaus slightly slurred his words as he sat down on the couch. 

“I don’t have time for this. I have to go check on my steak.” Five blipped back to the kitchen, leaving Klaus to figure out what to serve to his siblings. 

“Rude.” Klaus left the record player and the christmas lights on the couch, standing up to go back behind the bar. “Ah! Yes! Cranberry Juice!” He exclaimed, pulling out an almost empty gallon of cranberry juice from the minifridge under the bar, and 6 brandy snifters. Klaus divided the juice among the glasses, then poured courteous amounts of gin in each.  
After carefully picking up all six glasses, he headed down the stairs to the kitchen. Five was taking the steaks out of the oven. Diego was aggressively stirring a small pot on the stove. Luther was trying to discreetly eat a cookie from his dessert tray. Allison, Vanya and Five were placing dishes on the table. 

“Hey, guys! Look! Drinks!” Klaus moseyed over to his siblings, handing each a glass.

“Klaus, what is this?” Diego asked, momentarily pausing stirring his cheese dip to accept the drink.

“It’s uh, cranberry and gin.” Klaus handed the last one to Five.

“How much gin is in this, Klaus?” Five looked at the glass with suspicion

“Uh, somewhere between a lot, and a majority.” Klaus smiled as he downed his creation. The rest of his siblings took a cautious sip. 

“Not bad, Klaus.” Diego coughed, setting the drink down, and continuing stirring his spinach dip.

“Nice pour,” Five said with a smirk. “I still like my margarita better.”

“Oh shut up Five, you’re like twelve.” Klaus retorted, sitting down at the head of the table. “Oh, heyy, mashed potatoes.” He leaned over to grab a fingerful, only to be smacked away by his sister. 

“Hey. You can wait five minutes, everything’s almost done and then we can all eat.” Allison chided. 

“Diego, how’s the dip going?” Vanya asked. 

“I think it’s about done.” Triumphant, Diego turned off the stovetop and poured the concoction into a ceramic bowl. “Let’s eat!”

Klaus hopped off the table and chose the nearest seat. The siblings sat down, hungry. It had been a very long day for the siblings. You could almost say this day had taken 54 years to end. 

For the most part, they ate silently. Enraptured by the bounteous dishes in front of them, they filled their plates multiple times over. In their silence, they learned about the people they’d grown up with. Five made a fantastic steak. Luther had an incredible sweet tooth. Vanya made perfect al dente pasta. Diego made a passing spinach dip. Their quiet preoccupation with food was only broken by quick congratulatory compliments on specific dishes. Eventually, there was nothing left on the table.

Almost.  
One cookie remained on Luther’s tray. 

“Does anyone want the last cookie?” Allison offered. “I’m so full, I don’t think I could eat another bite.” 

“Me!” Diego and Luther spoke at the same time. 

“Uh oh,” Klaus commented unhelpfully. This number one sibling rivalry could not get a moment’s rest. 

Diego and Luther stared at each other. Both wanted that delicious chocolate chip cookie. Diego knew Luther was closer and could beat him in a wrestling match, but Luther knew Diego had access to a steak knife. They sat, locked in this stare, waiting for the other to make a move.

“Oh, for Christ’s sake,” Allison huffed, simply breaking the cookie in half, and tossing each brother a portion. 

The rest of the siblings let out a little laugh, as Diego and Luther both took a bite of their cookie half resignedly. Allison moved to put her plate in the sink, when Vanya called out to her.

“Uh, Allison, if you want I can actually clean up.”

“Thank you so much, but I do really like to do the dishes,” Allison insisted.

“Me too. We could do them together if you like? You did a lot of the cooking so I want to, kind of help out, you know?” 

“Yeah… yes, of course,” Allison relented, and Vanya started gathering everyone’s plates. 

“I can help too,” Luther offered, mouth still full of cookie. 

“It’s alright. How about everyone heads upstairs, make drinks, and think of things to do before we call this night to an end.” A consensus was mumbled from the siblings, and they all headed upstairs. 

Ray was on Allison’s mind. She missed him, his smile, his passion. Even though they had only known each other for a handful of years, she couldn’t imagine spending a lifetime without him. 

Likewise, Vanya was thinking about Sissy, how kind she was, how patient she was. Sissy was the definition of the wrong time and the wrong place, but Vanya couldn’t get her out of her mind. 

The sisters gathered all of the plates into the small sink. Vanya washed them, Allison dried them and put them away.

“Should we like, talk? About everything?” Vanya started.

Allison sighed. Obviously, there had to be a conversation about everything. From Allison forcing Vanya to thinking she was ordinary, to Vanya almost killing Allison and blowing up the moon, there was a lot that needed to be worked through. 

“I mean… Yes. We should. I don’t know about right now. I mean, it’s getting late and─”

“No, I understand.” Vanya fiddled with the sponge for a moment before nodding and resuming her scrubbing.

“It’s not that I don’t want to, I think… I just… Vanya, I’ve lost so much today,” Allison’s eyes had started to well up with tears. Vanya could hear it in her sister’s voice. She looked up to see her sister’s head bowed, using all the will she could muster to keep the tears in. 

“Wait, hey, hey, it’s okay. I didn’t mean to make you upset. We can start from scratch if you’d like,” Vanya dried her hands and went to go comfort her sister. 

“It’s not you, it’s not you.” Allison repeated. The two stood, Allison trying to stop crying while Vanya patted her back. 

A few moments passed. The only sounds were the occasional stifled sob from Allison, and the ticking of the clock. 

“I’m fine,” Allison said decisively, finally lifting her head and wiping her eyes. “It’s just… Ray and all that.” 

“I know, I understand. Believe me,” Vanya stopped patting her sister’s back. She had a pain in her chest too, taking her breath away every time she thought of Sissy. “Do you want to talk about him?” 

Allison thought for a moment. While it was painful to think of Ray, she wanted to relive every moment she spent with him. They got back to doing the dishes, and Allison talked about the first time they met, up to their wedding day, and beyond. She talked about all the good times, a sparkle coming back to her eye whenever she thought of a new moment to discuss. Vanya interjected occasionally with anecdotes about Sissy, offering Allison some support in the knowledge that she wasn’t alone in her experience. They regaled each other with stories about the loves of their lives, and for a few minutes it was almost as if Ray and Sissy were there in the kitchen, laughing along with them. 

The sisters had finished cleaning and were just laughing with each other when they heard a crash and shouting upstairs. With a mutual “oh no” look, both sisters rushed up the stairs. 

The scene they found in the living room was not an uncommon one. Diego and Luther were arguing over God knows what. Klaus had dropped a bottle of wine, and was mouthing off to Ben as he tried to pick up the largest shards of glass. Five was sitting at the bar, sipping his margarita, judging his siblings with a condescending smile on his face, almost amused. The Hargreeves were home, and all was right with the world.


End file.
